´

Republic of the Philippines

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
College of Education
Master in Library and Information Science
Sta. Mesa, Manila

Members:
(In alphabetical Order)

CALDERON, Dyessa Jane P.

CAYABYAB, Charisse Jane J.
DALMACIO, Alfred E.
DELA ROSA, Jose Jerry A.
RABOR, Jennifer T.

December 2018
DEFINITIONS OF ARCHIVAL TERMS
Prepared by: Charisse Jane J. Cayabyab

Acquisition

 The process of taking materials into your collection through transfer, donation of

purchase or the body of records so acquired.

Archive

 Material relating to the history of an institution that are kept for permanent

preservation because of their evidential or informational value (i.e. documents

photographs, books, maps, blueprints etc.)

 are the organized non-current records of an institution or organization retained for

their continuing value in providing a) evidence of the existence, functions, and

operations of the institution or organization that generated them, or b) other

information on activities or persons affected by the organization.

Archives

 The location at which archival materials are maintained.

 The agency responsible for selecting, acquiring, preserving, and making available

archives. Also known as an archival agency, archives or archival authority

/programme.

 Derived from the Greek word for “government house,” the term “archives” also refers

to the agency responsible for selecting, preserving, and making available non-current

records with long-term value and to the building or part of the building housing them.

Archivists

 are specially trained in preserving the original material and helping people obtain it.

Archivists work with paper documents, photographs, maps, films, and computer

records. Archivists possess broad, deep knowledge about records and are involved in
 many, if not all, phases of the records life cycle. Their extensive research and analysis

skills help in serving records to the public.

Archives management

 The professional area of expertise concerned with the maintenance and use of

archives. Also known as archival administration.

Appraisal

 Decision which part of the documents offered for transfer by a registry has archival

quality and should thus be kept permanently, and which has not and should therefore

be discarded.

Conservation

 The process of repairing damaged archives and artifacts or restoring them to

their original condition.

 In a records and archives environment, the intrusive protection of archival material,

by the minimal physical and chemical treatments necessary to resist further

deterioration, that will not adversely affect the integrity of the original.

Document

 Is a content file that has information in a structured or unstructured format. It is an

editable file. Documents can be stored as digitally. It can be changed and revised as

needed.

Manuscripts

 are documents (in any format) accumulated, collected, and/or generated by a private

individual(s) and subsequently donated to or acquired by a repository to ensure their

retention and public accessibility. “Manuscripts” include personal papers with organic

unity, artificial subject collections of documents acquired from diverse sources, and
 individual documents acquired and retained by a repository for their potential

research use. Manuscripts may be differentiated from archives in that they are

informal records, privately acquired and maintained for their subject matter content.

Manuscript collections are often described as “personal” or “private” papers. The term

“manuscript collection” may also refer to records brought together for a specific

purpose by a repository or a collector.

Preservation

 Measures taken to prevent or delay degradation of archival materials. These

measures involve using safe (acid and lignin free) storage supplies and providing safe

housing for materials.

Provenance

 The origin of a collection, documents the life of the collection i.e. donor, previous

owners of the collection

 The principle of archival arrangement according to which each deposit of records

should be placed within an overall arrangement or classification scheme that reflects

its origin and relation to other deposits from the same administrative body.

Records

 Are all documents, regardless of form, produced or received by any agency, officer,

or employee of an institution or organization in the conduct of its business.

Documents include all forms of recorded information, such as: correspondence,

computer data, files, financial statements, manuscripts, moving images, publications,

photographs, sound recordings, drawings, or other material bearing upon the

activities and functions of the institution or organization, its officers, and employees.

A document becomes a record when it is placed in an organized filing system for use

as evidence or information. It becomes archival when transferred to a repository for

preservation and research use.

Records Management

 Is an organizational function devoted to the management of information in an

organization throughout its life cycle, from the of creation or inscription to its eventual

disposition. This includes identifying, classifying, storing, securing, retrieving, tracking

and destroying or permanently preserving records field of management responsible

for the efficient and systematic control of the creation, receipt, maintenance, use and

disposition of records, including the processes for capturing and maintaining

evidence of and information about business activities and transactions in the form of

records (“ISO 15489-1:2001”)

CONCEPTS AND ROLES OF ARCHIVES
Prepared by: Alfred E. Dalmacio

WHAT IS ARCHIVES?

The word ‘archives’ is hard to define, as it is used in various ways, depending on

context. It can mean:

1. A collection of items which form evidence of the activities of a person or institution.

- 2. The division within an organization responsible for maintaining the organization's

records of enduring value. - 3. The building (or portion thereof; a place of deposit) dedicated

for archival collections’ care and use.

In the vernacular, 'archives' is often used to refer to any collection of documents that

are old or of historical interest, created or gathered by one person or institution and selected

for long-term preservation as evidence of their activities. The format of these documents

does not matter; they can be medieval parchment documents, maps, photographs or even

digital files. They can be century’s old or just weeks old. Archives may thus be seen to take

many physical forms, each of which has its own special requirements for storage,

preservation and use. The major categories may be briefly described as follows:

Manuscripts: writings on paper usually using as an inscribing medium ink or pencil, applied

manually or by typewriter.

Cartographic and architectural records: many of these are manuscripts also, but relay

substantially on graphic presentations in addition to writing.

Audio-visual materials: negatives and prints of still photographs and motion pictures; video

tapes; sound recordings on cylinders, magnetic tapes; microfilms, micro cards, and

microfiche.

Machine-readable records: information of record character that is created, stored,

manipulated, reproduced or displayed by use of computers or other electronic data

processing devices.

Printed archives: refers to the printed document or records and publications.

ROLES OF ARCHIVES

Archives have value to nations and regions, organizations, communities, and

individual people. They provide evidence of activities which occurred in the past, they tell

stories, document people and identity and are valuable sources of information for research.

They are our recorded memory and form an important part of our community, cultural,

official and unofficial history.

Archives are important because they provide evidence of activities and tell us more

about individuals and institutions. They tell stories. They also increase our sense of identity

and understanding of cultures.

As society moves into the new millennium, global telecommunication and

computing technologies are changing the way individuals and organizations

communicate and do business. Moreover, these dramatic changes are occurring at a

time of changing societal dynamics. Nevertheless, the fundamental archival roles and

responsibilities remain the same but also are more important than ever. They are to:

 Manage cost-effective archival programs for the selection, retention, and use of
both electronic and paper documentary materials.
 Ensure that an authentic and reliable record is created and available for use.
 Evaluate the universe of available documents and record-keeping systems to
select those to preserve for future use.
 Preserve and document the context and arrangement of the materials retained
for long-term use.
 Provide descriptive tools, such as registers, indices, and databases, to allow
records-keepers, researchers, archivists, and others to locate and identify the
information and evidence in archival holdings.
 Preserve information and evidence in a protective environment and in a format
or media that will remain usable over time.
 Promote and help people use archives to explain the past, support accountability
for the present, and provide guidance for the future.
LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES

An archive is a repository of records. The mission is to collect, organize, preserve, and provide

access to non-current documents stored in a repository. The focus is on non-current

materials. Increasingly, archival materials are being digitized to provide easier information

access.

A library is a collection(s) of creative and informational sources such as books and other

materials selected, organized, and maintained for use in study, research, or leisure. Services

are provided that facilitate access and use of materials to meet user needs. The emphasis is

generally on current, up-to-date materials. The increase in electronic materials has made it

possible to access library resources from anywhere, anytime.

The key difference between a library and an archive is what is contained in the

collections and how it was acquired (see table 1). Libraries seek out creative and informational

sources to meet the current needs and interests of its users. When materials are no longer

useful, they may be discarded or transferred to an archive. Archives are used to safe-guard

records that have been generated during the course of doing business. From handwritten

notes to advertising posters and email, a wide range of items are produced every day. All

records identified by the archive's collection policy as "permanently valuable" are carefully

preserved and stored. These are not items currently being used in the course of everyday

business.

Table 1: Difference between Archives and Libraries

ARCHIVES
Material is usually acquired
directly from author or creator
Materials are usually donated,
not purchased
ACQUISITION
Material is usually selected by
archivists with broad
knowledge of documentary
heritage
LIBRARIES
Material is usually acquired
through publishers or library
vendors
Materials are usually
purchased but libraries also
receive significant gifts from
private individuals or
institutions
Materials are usually selected
by subject specialist librarians
 Material is usually selected in
accordance with archives
acquisition policies and
institutional mandates
Mostly unpublished material
(e.g., letters, manuscripts, etc.)
Collections are groups of
FORMAT
discrete items
Material is usually unique and
not available anywhere else
Materials are organized
according to principles of
provenance and original order
Archivists try to retain the
organization imposed by the
creator(s) of the collection
ORGANIZATIONS OF
The intellectual order of a
COLLECTIONS
collection is presented in the
finding aid. The physical order
of a collection depends on the
size and format of materials
and may not match the
intellectual order of the
collection.
A group of material is
described on a number of
different levels within the
collection or fonds .
Descriptions of each part of a
collection are linked together
into a "multi-level" archival
DESCRIPTION OF
description, or finding aid
COLLECTION
Finding aids often contain
access points such as subject
headings, geographic
headings, and authority
records (i.e., name(s) of the
creator(s) of the archival
material)
Materials do not circulate and
must be accessed on site. Only
ACCESS selected materials are
available online.
Access to certain information
may be restricted.
Material is usually selected in
accordance with library
collections policies and
institutional mandates
Mostly published material
(e.g., books, journals, etc.)
Collections are discrete items
Material is often available
elsewhere
Materials are organized
according to subject
classification
Librarians organize collections
without concern for how the
creator(s) of the material
organize their records
Material is described on an
individual level (e.g., catalogue
record for a single book)
Descriptions of individual
items are not linked together
unless they form a series of
items
Library catalogue records
contain subject headings
Most library materials circulate
or can be accessed online.
Some items (e.g., special
collections, course reserves)
do not circulate.
Most library materials are
published and do not contain

Materials must be handled
with caution. White gloves are
usually required for handling
photographic materials.
restricted information. Access
to the vast majority of online
content.
Materials must be handled
with caution.

USERS OF ARCHIVES

It was once thought that archives were just for academics. This is no longer the case, if it

ever was. People are using archives for all sorts of research now. These are just a few groups

of archive-users. The list could go on.

 Local history researchers carry out research to gain a better understanding of the

area in which they live.

 Artists and designers have used art and design archives to inspire their work.

 Enthusiasts visit archives to find out more about their hobbies. For example people

who are interested in travel or engineering might use shipbuilding, Post Office or

railway collections.

 Businesses and Companies use archives for marketing purposes.

 Solicitors, town planners, developers and architects use archives when considering

how to manage the built environment, restore buildings or plan new ones.

 Genealogists rely on archival sources to reconstruct family trees and trace their

histories.

 Archaeologists collect evidence to support conservation of an area as historically

important and will plan excavation activities using evidence of early settlements.

Maps such as this can be used to

 Engineers gather information about plots of land for corporate clients or groups

 Journalists often use archives to research their stories or obtain copies of archival

documents to illustrate their stories or obituaries.

ARCHIVES ACQUISITION
Prepared by: Jose Jerry A. Dela Rosa

Archival value

The ongoing usefulness or significance of records, based on the evidential, or historical

information they contain, justifying their continued preservation.

Archival value – Classic theory:

Evidential value

A value of records that provides evidence about the origins, structure, functions,

procedures and activities of their creator.

 Informational value

The usefulness or significance of materials based on the information they contain on

persons, places, subjects and things because of their historical or continuing value.

Example of Evidence and Information: Letter from Frederick Douglas to Hugh Auld,

October 4, 1857 (Gilder Lerhman Collection). “Slavery”

ACQUIRING ARCHIVES

Every collecting organization has a collection that will grow over time. In archives,

the process of accepting material into your collection is called acquisition.

Basic method of acquisition can be:

 Purchase

 Gift

 Loans

Types of loans:

 Reproduction loans

 Exhibit loans

 Loans of virtual exhibit

 Deposite

Type of deposite:

 Open-deposite

 Semi-permanent

 Timed

 Transfer

 Field collection

Purchase

 When an archivist chooses to buy an archival material using the archival

institution’s allotted budget.

Where to buy? - Individual sellers, private book, established auctions sellers

Gift

 In legal terms titles to the property passes from giver to the recipient or from

donor to the archive.

Loans

 temporary acquisition that can be renewed or converted into a gift.

Types of loans:

Reproduction loans - when a material is loaned into an institution in order to have

photocopied, photographed and digitized and afterwards materials

returned to the lender.

Exhibit loans - more common in the museum when materials is loaned to an

Institution for displayed purposes.

Loans of virtual exhibit - materials is loaned for reproduction and displayed In virtual

Archives.

Deposite

 an individual or corporate body temporarily places records in the custody of

archives w/o transfer of ownership rights & title.

Types of deposite:

Open-ended - no time limit of both parties, the depositor and institution can

terminate the program.

Semi-permanent - materials deposited can be withdrawn for specific reason.

Timed - the agreement is enforce for specifically defined period.

Transfer

 within one agency from creating office to the archival facility.

 process should be formalized and documented.

Why? - to maintain chain of custody.

- to identify records that have been transferred.

  Transfer by “deed of gift” – donor promises to give the archival institution a

body of archival materials which the institution agrees to preserve and

manage under the terms and conditions.

 Legal ownership does not changed

Why? - The institution receiving the records is part of the institution that

created the records.

The best practice:

 To get the vital information

a. Name and contact details of a person, department/office responsible

for creation

b. Date of transfer

c. Number of boxes and materials, files or units of materials transferred

d. Information about records ( list of file titles, inclusive dates, security or

access)

Schedule transfer – authorized transfer that provides mandatory instructions for

the disposition of the records (including the transfer of

permanent records and disposal of temporary records)

when they are no longer needed by the agency.

Unscheduled transfer – records arrives in less regular ways, but must be

similarly thoroughly documented.

Field collection

 A primary source material that describe a range of information including the

activities performed of collecting specimen or observation during field

research.

Documents and tools use to promote and make the process of donating material as

easy as possible.

This may include forms like:

 deed of gift
  copyright agreement

 an accession form

Deed of gift

A signed legal document that voluntarily and without recompense

transfers ownership of real, personal, or intellectual property – such as

a gift of materials – from one person or institution to another.

Copyright agreement

A legal document containing provisions for the conveyance of full or

partial copyright from the rights owner to another party.

An accession form

An official administrative document that establishes the archives’ legal

right of ownership.

ACQUISITION CONDITIONS

It’s the instrument which provides the archival institution with the direction for

making appraisal and acquisition decisions and allocating resources. It is the backbone

around which the archival institution can acquire comprehensive holdings in a planned,

coordinated, and systematic manner.

Before acquiring records or documents, the archive requires that:

 All records be non-current .

 The depositor be authorized to transfer title to the material and sign

a deed of gift form.

 All materials undergo archival appraisal and fulfill the following conditions:

a. be unique,

b. Have adequately-documented authenticity and integrity,

c. possess demonstrated historical or archival value; and

d. be in reasonable physical condition

 The records be free of legal encumbrances and excessive access

restrictions that will diminish their research potential.

 Physical condition, as the high cost of conservation may necessitate

rejecting records or publications that are in poor condition if the Manager

cannot justify the cost of caring for them.

 Serious preservation risk, as acquiring moldy or infested records could

pose a danger to the Archives’ existing holdings.

 Format, as acquisition of records in obsolete digital or machine-readable

formats is not possible if they are unreadable and would be prohibitively

expensive to reformat.
ARCHIVES AS INSTITUTIONS
Prepared by: Dyessa Jane P. Calderon

DEFINITION OF TERMS:

Archival institution

 An organization or organizational unit that manages archival materials as its primary

business function. It’s main purpose is to acquire, preserve and provide access to

collections of archival materials.

 An institution holding legal and physical custody of noncurrent documentary

materials determined to have permanent or continuing value. Archives and

manuscript repositories are archival institutions.

Many organizations and institutions have an interest in keeping materials that document

their activities and history, whether for administrative use or historical interest. Records may

be stored in various places throughout an organization, making it difficult to locate, organize

or retrieve items. A special event such as an anniversary or exhibit, or writing a history of the

institution may also trigger the need to set up an archives. Collecting, preserving and making

these records accessible can benefit the organization and researchers alike.

Archival institutions are responsible for managing and conserving records produced by

people and legal entities in the course of their activity. Such institutions may depend directly

on the producing body (if the company or public authority body has an archive with staff and

services) or they may be established by law and receive documentation by transfer (they may

be other public archives within a national archive system, or they may be private entities with

a contract to protect records, safeguarding the confidential nature of what they receive).

Collections of records are exclusive because the producing entity (the body or individual who

engages in an activity) creates them without generating copies (which is not the case with

library records) and the loss of the records would leave a gap in the documentary heritage.
 Archival institutions can be termed either "archives" or "manuscript repositories"

depending on the types of documentary material they contain and how it is acquired.

"Archives" traditionally have been those institutions responsible for the long-term care of

the historical records of the organization or institution of which they are a part. Many

archives are public institutions responsible for the records of continuing value of a

government or governmental body. The National Archives of the United States and the Public

Archives of Canada are examples of public archives at the national level. Public archives also

may be found at every other level of government, including state or province, county, and

municipal levels. Nonpublic or nongovernmental archives care for the records of any other

institution or organization of which they are a part. Church archives, for example, administer

the historical records of a religious denomination or congregation. University archives are

responsible for records of the university's administration. Archives acquire historical

material through the action of law or through internal institutional regulation or policy.

"Manuscript repositories" are archival institutions primarily responsible for personal

papers, artificial collections, and records of other organizations. Manuscript repositories

purchase or seek donations of materials to which they have no necessary right. They

therefore must document the transfer of materials by deed of gift or by other legal contract.

The distinctions between archives and manuscript repositories can be precisely stated,

yet few archival institutions are simply "archives" or "manuscript repositories." Most archives

hold some personal papers or records of other organizations. Even the National Archives of

the United States is responsible for a small group of donated personal papers and

nongovernment records. Similarly, many manuscript repositories serve as the archives of

their own institutions. In recognition of this, the term "archives" gradually has acquired

broader meaning for some archivists and is used by them in reference to any archival

institution. This trend has been accelerated by the use of the word "archives" or "archive" in

the names of some institutions that in the past might have been termed "manuscript

repositories."
 Archives are social constructs. Their origins lie in the information needs and social values

of the rulers, governments, businesses, associations, and individuals who establish and

maintain them. Archives then are not some pristine storehouse of historical documentation

that has piled up, but a reflection of and often justification for the society that creates them.

Whether over ideas or feelings, actions or transactions, the choice of what to record and

the decision over what to preserve, and thereby privilege, occur within socially constructed,

but now naturalized frameworks that determine the significance of what becomes archives.

Within them, the principles and strategies that archivists have adopted overtime, and the

activities they undertake – especially choosing or appraising what becomes archives and

what is destroyed – fundamentally influence the composition and character of archival

holdings and, thus, of societal memory. These underlying cultural frameworks are central to

understanding the nature of archives as institutions and as places of social memory.

Memory, like history, is rooted in archives. Without archives, memory falters, knowledge

of accomplishments fades, pride in a shared past dissipates. Archives counter these losses.

Archives contain the evidence of what went before. This is particularly germane in the

modern world. With the disappearance of traditional village life and the extended family,

memory based on personal, shared storytelling is no longer possible; the archive remains as

one foundation of historical understanding. Archives validate our experiences, our

perceptions, our narratives, our stories. Archives are our memories. Yet what goes on in the

archives remains remarkably unknown. Users of archives (historians and others) and

shapers of archives (records creators, records managers, and archivists) add layers of

meaning, layers which become naturalized, internalized, and unquestioned.

The nature of the resulting “archive” thus has serious consequences for administrative

accountability, citizen rights, collective memory, and historical knowledge, all of which are

shaped –tacitly, subtly, sometimes unconsciously, yet profoundly – by the naturalized, largely

invisible, and rarely questioned power of archives. Control of the archive – variously defined

– means control of society and thus control of determining history’s winners and losers.
TYPES OF ARCHIVES

There are many varieties of archives, and the types of materials they collect differ as

well. Defining your research topic and knowing what sorts of materials you are looking for

will help you determine the appropriate institutions to contact. Here is a brief overview of

repository types:

 College and university archives are archives that preserve materials relating to a

specific academic institution. Such archives may also contain a "special collections"

division (see definition below). College and university archives exist first to serve

their parent institutions and alumni, and then to serve the public.

Examples: Stanford University Archives, Mount Holyoke College Archives.

 Corporate archives are archival departments within a company or corporation that

manage and preserve the records of that business. These repositories exist to serve

the needs of company staff members and to advance business goals. Corporate

archives allow varying degrees of public access to their materials depending on the

company's policies and archival staff availability.

Examples: Ford Motor Company Archives, Kraft Foods Archives.

 Government archives are repositories that collect materials relating to local, state,

or national government entities.

Examples: The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Franklin D.

Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, the New York State Archives, City of

Boston Archives.

 Historical societies are organizations that seek to preserve and promote interest in

the history of a region, a historical period, nongovernment organizations, or a

subject. The collections of historical societies typically focus on a state or a

community, and may be in charge of maintaining some governmental records as

well.
 Examples: The Wisconsin Historical Society, the National Railway Historical Society,

the San Fernando Valley Historical Society.

 Museums and archives share the goal of preserving items of historical significance,

but museums tend to have a greater emphasis on exhibiting those items, and

maintaining diverse collections of artifacts or artwork rather than books and papers.

Any of the types of repositories mentioned in this list may incorporate a museum, or

museums may be stand-alone institutions. Likewise, stand-alone museums may

contain libraries and/or archives.

Examples: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smithsonian National Air and Space

Museum.

 Religious archives are archives relating to the traditions or institutions of a major

faith, denominations within a faith, or individual places of worship. The materials

stored in these repositories may be available to the public, or may exist solely to

serve members of the faith or the institution by which they were created.

Examples: United Methodist Church Archives, American Jewish Archives.

 Special collections are institutions containing materials from individuals, families,

and organizations deemed to have significant historical value. Topics collected in

special collections vary widely, and include medicine, law, literature, fine art, and

technology. Often a special collections repository will be a department within a

library, holding the library's rarest or most valuable original manuscripts, books,

and/or collections of local history for neighboring communities.

Examples: Special Collections Research Center at the University of Chicago,

American Philosophical Society Library.

GUIDELINES FOR EVALUATION OF ARCHIVAL INSTITUTIONS

The Guidelines for the Evaluation of Archival Institutions first appeared in 1977 as the

Principles of Institutional Evaluation and have been revised and updated by the Committee

on Institutional Evaluation (CIED). SAA Council established CIED in June 1989 to carry forward

the work of the task force.

The purpose of the guidelines is to provide an objective and consistent framework

against which archives can measure their development, recognizing the diversity of both

archival institutions and archival media. Each statement points to a fundamental aspect of

an archives' operations and describes a basic level of resources or activity. Archives are

encouraged to use these guidelines as a basis for self-evaluation and program development.

The broader audience for this document includes other constituent groups, such as donors

and resource allocators, who may need to understand and evaluate the effectiveness of

archival institutions.

1. Legal Authority and Purpose

There should be explicit documentation of the legal status and authority of an

archives. The archives should have a formal statement of its purpose.

2. Governing Authority and Administration

The governing authority of the archives should adopt statements of basic policy and

establish areas of administrative authority. There should be a clear understanding of the

differences between governance and administration. Staff should be involved in both the

planning and evaluation of specific objectives and priorities established to carry out the

statement of purpose.

An archives which is part of a larger institution should be within an appropriate

organizational unit, one which understands and supports the goals and functions of the

archives. The administrator of the archives should be involved in the planning and evaluation

processes of the parent institution as they affect the archives.

3. Financial Resources

Financial resources dependably available to the archives should be adequate to carry

out its stated purpose. These available resources should be identified in a separate budget

for the archives. Staff should have the opportunity to contribute to the budgeting process,

and the administrator should be involved at a higher level if the archives budget is part of a

larger budget.

4. Staff

Every archives should include on its staff at least one person who possesses, through

education or experience, professional competence in archives management and should

support continuing professional training and development. The archives should also have

sufficient staff to supply services commensurate with its volume of holdings, the needs of its

researchers, and programs designed to meet goals and objectives.

5. Physical Facilities

The archives should provide adequate and suitable space and facilities for

administration, processing, storage, and use of its records in all formats and for all programs

that are designed to meet stated goals and objectives.

6. Building Archival and Manuscript Holdings

An archives should have authority to receive the records, in all formats, of the

institution of which it is a part. In order to identify records to be retained or destroyed, the

archives, in conjunction with the other administrative subdivisions of the parent institution,

should prepare and maintain written, approved records retention schedules.

If a repository acquires private papers or records from other organizations, it should

have a formally adopted written acquisitions policy identifying the types of records the

archives will attempt to acquire. Where appropriate, the repository should devise a

manuscripts acquisition strategy that will enable it to obtain the types of materials that are

compatible with its acquisition policy.

 All acquisitions should be appraised to identify permanently valuable materials in all

formats. The archives should maintain records to document the acquisitions process and

should record the provenance of all accessions.

7. Preserving Archival and Manuscript Holdings

Archives should establish systematic programs of preservation management that are

integrated with every other archival function through a coordinated set of activities designed

to maintain records for use, either in their original form or in some other usable manner.

Such programs should give priority to activities that mitigate the deterioration of materials

or information and that encompass groups of material (environmental controls, storage

management, disaster preparedness, staff and user education, holdings maintenance,

security, and reformatting) over activities that redress damage such as item level

conservation treatment.

Principles of archival appraisal should govern the selection of materials for

prospective or retrospective preservation. Only conservation treatment methods consistent

with current professional standards should be employed.

8. Arrangement and Description

Records and papers should be arranged in accordance with the principles of

provenance and original order; records of different sources should not be intermingled, and

records should be retained, whenever possible, in their original organizational pattern in

order to preserve all relationships. Records in all formats should be appropriately housed,

identified, and stored so that they are easily maintained and readily retrieved.

The archives should employ a system of finding aids that reflects current professional

standards and provides essential information about the holdings for users and enables the

archivist to retrieve materials. Finding aids should provide intellectual control and should

proceed from the general to the specific. The level of description of records depends on their

research value, the anticipated level of demand, and their physical condition.
9 . Access Policy and Reference Services

The archives should provide opportunity for research in the records it holds and

should be open for research use on a regular and stated schedule. It should provide

adequate space and facilities for research use and should make its records available on equal

terms of access to all users who should abide by its rules and procedures. Any restrictions

on access should be defined in writing and carefully observed.

Staff members familiar with the holdings and capable of making informed decisions

about legal and ethical considerations affecting reference work should be available to

provide information about holdings and assist and instruct users. The archives should

provide information about its holdings, services, and fees and report its holdings to

appropriate publications, databases, and networks. The archives should provide

reproduction of materials in its possession whenever possible.

10. Outreach and Public Programs

The archives should identify its various constituencies in terms of its purpose, should

plan and implement methods to assess the needs of these groups in relation to the

resources of the institution, and devise outreach programs that will fit their needs. These

programs may include workshops, conferences, training programs, courses, festivals,

exhibits, publications, and similar activities, aimed at such groups as students, faculty

members, scholars, administrators, researchers, donors, records creators, or the general

community.
ARCHIVES AND THE PROFESSION
Prepared by: Jennifer T. Rabor

THE PROFESSION OF THE ARCHIVIST

One of the common features of European archives is that they always have been quite

distinct from libraries. Indeed, their origin, as part of the legal and administrative system,

explains why they took some time to be recognized as "cultural" rather than administrative

assets. The first archivists in England, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, and Spain

were not librarians. They were clerks of the chancery, clerks of judicial courts, clerks of

municipalities, notaries, and the like. They received some practical training in reading old

scripts and understanding old documents, but they were not historians. By the eighteenth

century, archives began to be considered more from a historical point of view than from a

practical or legal one. At that time some European countries began to include archives in

their libraries.

For instance, when the French Revolution created the Archives nationales, many

registers of documents (especially from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) were given to the

Bibliotheque nationale because they werein the form of bound volumes. The same

happened in England, where the term"manuscripts" applies in fact to many archival

documents located in libraries despite the fact that they would belong more appropriately

in archives. However, nowhere in Europe were Archives, with a capital A, as an institution,

placed under the jurisdiction or authority of Libraries, with a capital L. Archives and libraries

have been separate, distinct institutions since the beginning. In fact, the creation of archives

preceded that of libraries in most countries, including England, France, Germany, and Spain.

The archival profession as such really began to be recognized as autonomous and

specialized in the second part of the nineteenth century, linked with the growing awareness

of the basic principles of archival administration and the creation of archival schools in most

countries. As early as 1850, the French government decided that only graduates of the Ecole
des Chartes should be recruited as archivists for the Archives nationales. In Italy, Germany

(specifically Bavaria), and Austria, the specials chools of paleography and diplomatics trained

archivists quite independently from librarians. Only in Spain did the Cuerpo Facultativo de

Archiveros, Bibliotecarios y Anticuarios, created in 1858, group archivists and librarians

together. One of the results of the autonomy of archives in the majority of European

countries was that archival science developed independently of librarianship.

TheDutchmanual of 1898, which was soon translated into French, German, and later English,

had a great influence on the establishment of archival principles distinct from, if not adverse

to, those of librarianship. From that time on, there have been very few contacts between

archivists and librarians in Europe. The gap, if one can use that expression, is currently

widening rather than narrowing. During the course of the nineteenth and twentieth

centuries, the archives of all European countries gained a certain legal status defined by laws

and official regulations. It is not possible here to give even a brief list of all these texts, many

of which date from between 1880 and 1910, an era of wide interest in national history

everywhere. Throughout all of Europe in the pre-World War I era, the organization of archives

was considered as a cultural and administrative matter of the greatest importance.

THE ORIGINS OF ARCHIVAL PRACTICES IN EUROPE

As has occurred in all human civilizations, the practice of archival administration grew

in Europe as a natural, "organic" phenomenon as soon as the practice of writing on

perishable materials was invented. Ancient Greece had archival repositories. So did the

Roman Empire, which is the starting point for every study of European legal, political, and

cultural history. These archives were all destroyed during the Great Invasions of the fifth,

sixth,and seventh centuries A.D., however. Only a vague tradition of records keeping

survived in the more advanced, or less backward, of the new kingdoms born on the ruins of

the Empire. These archives were in turn practically annihilated later, so that only a very few

documents prior to 1000 A.D. survive in Europe. Even the Carolingian Empire, which

purported to be a Christian revival of the Roman Empire, disappeared without leaving any

significant number of archives, due to its economic and political collapse in the tenth century.
European archives began to revive only in the eleventh and twelfth centuries when a new

political and religious organization of the continent gradually emerged from the chaos. From

that point onward, it is no longer possible to speak of "European" archives except in a purely

geographical sense. All the new monarchies (German, French,English, and later Spanish), the

great feudal powers, the Church, and the towns organized their own records keeping

independently so that little by little local or national traditions and methods were created,

giving birth in modern times to the various archival systems which now exist. In the

thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, local and national administrations began to emerge out

of feudal practices, and with them archival repositories began to function. The French Tresor

des Charteshad its first archivist, Pierre d'Etampes, in1307. The archives of the kingdom of

Aragon were created in 1346. Nearly all the Italian and Flemish towns organized the

conservation and management of their archives within the framework of their municipal

institutions. Archival repositories such as these were defined as loci publiciin quibus

instrumenta deponuntur, i.e."public places where legal documents are kept." This definition

demonstrates that the legal aspect of records-keeping was then prevalent. To give just one

example from many, private contracts between citizens in Flanders (such as commercial

contracts, marriage deeds, last wills, etc.) were kept in coffers in the town hall. The very fact

that they were there gave them legal force. For the same reason, public archival repositories

in Hungary were called locicredibiles, which could be interpreted as"places which give legal

credibility to the documents kept within them. "Such a notion had long-lasting consequences

in many European countries. As late as 1937, Hilary Jenkinson stated in hisfamous Manual

of Archive Administration that a character of authenticity was inherent to documents kept in

the Public Record Office, and for that reason a guarantee of uninterrupted transmission was

essential for a document to be recognized as part of a public record office. However, such a

notion never existed in many other countries, including France, where the fact of its being

preserved in a public archival repository does not give a document any guarantee of

authenticity. Since the beginning, the most commonkinds of documents in archival

repositories were titles of land property and other documents of economic interest. The

monasteries, which until the sixteenth century were the greatest landowners in Europe, had
well-kept archiva or munimenta, now a first-class source on European medieval economic

history. Other well-kept archives were those of royal chanceries, civil or ecclesiastical courts,

and municipalities, all of which had a clearly evident character of utility for their owners.

AN OVERVIEW HISTORY OF THE FILIPINO ACHIVAL PROFESSION AND ARCHIVAL

EDUCATION

“I would beg all of you who have, or will have political influence
to see that your records and archives receive proper care. This may
not be a cause that appeals to vote-catching politicians, but if you
neglect to set up a careful records office, your grandsons and their
sons will denounce you for your barbarism – and they will be
right”.
-Sir Steven Runciman, 19551

When Sir Steven Runciman, Professor of History at Cambridge University, visited the

Philippines in 1955, he observed that there is much to be written about Philippine history,

and many records and archives to support that work. However, he also made the painful,

but truthful statement quoted above, which aptly describes the state of the archives at that

time. Prof. Runciman was referring to the Bureau of Archives during the period when it was

in the custody of the Philippine government after the Second World War. The physical

condition of a nation's archives determines the value accorded to it by governments and the

whole nation. As discussed across the first two chapters, archives in the Philippines assumed

different roles, depending on how the colonial government viewed them. Since 1901, the

Bureau of Archives had played different roles: critical information provider to the colonial

government; monitoring device; and eventually considered a cultural entity to be placed in

the National Library. It is quite understandable that after the chaos brought by the war, a

devastated country like the Philippines would focus its resources on the rehabilitation of the

country’s infrastructure and improvement of the economy. People were starting to reclaim

their lives. Who then, during that period, would invest in the protection and preservation of
cultural heritage such as the archives? People who value archives see them as a “laboratory

of history” and historical records as an “important component of the national and local

cultural heritage.” They acknowledge that archives “can contribute to the sense of identity of

nations, communities, organizations, and individuals.” But the condition of the Philippines

during that postwar period did not allow that degree of priority to be placed on archives

because the country had to focus on how to rebuild the nation. The war contributed to the

deplorable state of the country’s documentary heritage. But how these archives had been

handled prior to the war also contributed to the problem.

THE KEEPERS OF THE ARCHIVES

During most of the period of Spanish colonization, archival holdings were dispersed

in different communities or pueblos and different churches, because both government and

church leaders were the ones who collected and maintained archives. According to Reyes,

for church officials, record keeping was an important component of the early missionaries’

way of life in the colony. Government records were maintained by various local officials. In

separate reports made by Worthington C. Ford, the chief of the division of manuscripts of

the Library of Congress, and James Alexander Robinson, the Director of the Philippine

National Library, where the holdings of the Bureau of Archives were kept, on the condition

of the Spanish records when they were ceded to the US, the undesirable condition of the

archives is a constant focus. The reports blame the destruction of many records on war,

insect pests that were prevalent in the country, and the tropical climate that was not

conducive to the preservation of records. The keepers of the records often did not care for

these archives properly, nor were they committed to preserving them for posterity. These

keepers of records in the colonial era were seldom archivists in the modern sense of the

term were institutional officials assigned to recordkeeping duties for mainly contemporary

administrative and legal needs. A distinct archival profession did not yet exist in the

Philippines.
 There is no doubt that the Americans placed great importance on the Spanish

archives, particularly during the first few years of American colonization after 1898 because

of the records' critical purpose in American entrenchment in the Philippines. However,

changes in the uses of archives were observed a decade after, when Robertson emphasized

the need for the Philippine Commission to acquire more actively the archives in different

repositories in Spain, arguing that the Filipino people needed these records for their

historical value. The same view was already expressed by Manuel Yriarte, the keeper of

archives under the Spanish government and the first Chief of the Bureau of Archives under

the American colonization, when he reported in 1901 about their efforts to gather the

dispersed records in the different provinces, not only because of their historical value but

also for the valuable information they contain about the establishment and administration

of laws pertaining to the natives.

With both Robertson and Yriarte acknowledging the need to gather and preserve the

archives, it could be inferred that the importance of proper organization and care for the

archives were recognized. However, the sheer volume of the archives and its pathetic

physical condition, impeded proper appraisal and examination of the archives. Given such

disarray, Ford advised against a detailed review of these records and instead recommended

that steps be taken to prevent these conditions from worsening under the Philippine

Commission’s authority. Moreover, as hostilities between the Filipino and American forces

subsided in the early twentieth century, the American government’s interest in the archives

declined. After the Bureau of Archives had served its administrative role, its holdings became

a cultural object in the care of the National Library. This started the close association of

archives with the library profession in the country. This association explains the pattern of

development of the archival profession in the country and subsequently of archival

education. The association can also be observed in the appointment of Clemente Zulueta in

1903 as Collecting Librarian at the National Library. He was assigned the task of acquiring
copies of historical manuscripts in Spain, which were expected to become the core archival

collection of the National Library12 rather than the records in its custody from the Bureau

of Archives. The lead role of the library in archival work also explains why a very important

collection of records of the revolutionary government known as the Philippine

Revolutionary/Insurrection Records, compiled by Captain John Rogers M. Taylor,13 and other

manuscripts created by revolutionary leaders during the Spanish period, are maintained in

the National Library to this day. Unlike when they were used to serve only the colonial

government’s purposes, and public access to the records was limited, their emerging cultural

purpose allowed greater access to them in the library setting This organizational relationship

between archives and libraries continued through the twentieth century and shaped the

evolution of the archival profession in the Philippines.

If and when an institution decided to establish an archives, it would be under or within

the realm of a library and under the auspices of librarians. But as Hidalgo observed, “after

some attempts to treat manuscript collections using similar principles as those applied to

the book collection, libraries have come to acknowledge the necessity to approach the

manuscript collections using archival principles.” This was the case with the pioneer group

of archivists in the country that was sent to do post-appointment training abroad. One of

these pioneers, Pat. I. Nivera, travelled to the United States in 1969 to observe the different

presidential libraries and archives in order to gain knowledge she needed to organize the

collection of former President Ramon Magsaysay. Her graduate degree in library science and

the workshop in archives that she attended while visiting the United States qualified her to

work on the papers of other former presidents of the country and eventually to help

establish the University of the Philippines (UP) Archives in 1972. Yolanda Granda, the first

university archivist at UP, also attended workshops and did a study tour and internship in

the different archives in the US and Canada to prepare her for this work. Other graduates of

the Master of Library Science program, such as Fe Versoza, Evelyn Nofuente and Virginia

Libang, took one or two courses in archives administration as their specialization to meet the

requirements of the archival positions they had. This pattern of post-employment training
can be observed among university libraries and other library institutions, which

acknowledged the requirements of specialized skills to handle their manuscript collections.

Some attention to education for archival work also emerged in the Filipino government when

the Division of Archives was renamed the Bureau of Records Management in 1958, which

later became a separate office known as the Records Management and Archives Office

(RMAO) under the General Services Division in 1972. A training division was created within

the office that took an active role in the training of government employees in records

management. Archival training, however, took a back seat. The introduction of the first

mainframe IBM computers in the 1960s in government agencies like the Bureau of Lands,

and more sophisticated versions of personal computers in the mid-1980s in other

government and private sector institutions, created the need to manage the growing

volumes of records produced as a result of the introduction of this new technology. This

placed greater immediate emphasis on records management training, rather than archival

training. The training/workshops conducted by the RMAO were complemented by other

short-term training programs conducted by private institutions concerned with records

management. They were eventually also offered by the Philippine Records Management

Association (PRMA), the first Filipino professional organization for records managers (mainly

working in government agencies) established in 1972.

The emphasis on records management became more evident with the governments’

campaign for transparency and accountability in the public sector after the Marcos era

ended in 1986. This was also the period when computers became widely adopted in the

offices of government and private agencies. While governments and business institutions

were concerned with proper recordkeeping, libraries with archival collections, ecclesiastical

archives and other cultural institutions concerned with the collection of documentary

heritage, including films and other audio-visual archives, became more active in seeking

archival training through short-term workshops. The need for skill development in the
preservation of these different types of archives also led to the creation and establishment

of different professional associations such as the Society of Filipino Archivists (SFA) in 1990,

led by pioneer librarian/archivists in the country. Three years later, the Society of Film and

Audio Visual Archives (SOFiA) was also established. The SFA was the first Filipino professional

association of archivists. And it supported the establishment of more specialized

associations such as the Society of Ecclesiastical Archivists of the Philippines (SEAP) in 2000.

As Granda, Montesa and Punzalan explain, the SFA was responsible for the

“institutionalization of the records management and archives functions in national and local

government units as well as in academic, business, ecclesiastical and medical institutions.”

One important event that contributed greatly to heightened awareness of the need to

preserve archives is the five-year (1994-98) centennial celebration of Philippine

independence from Spanish colonization. According to Weekley, the celebration was used

by then President Fidel V. Ramos to inspire Filipino national feeling and identity, in part to

pursue the government’s desire to improve the country’s economy in the global arena. The

centennial celebration also led to renewed interest in examining original documents related

to the centennial celebration. As Granda, Pinzalan and Montesa observe, “the archives, more

than in any given period, were brought to the forefront of the commemoration and became

the central element that underscored the centennial festivities.”

HISTORY OF ARCHIVAL EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES

As mentioned above, archival education in the Philippines began as an offshoot of

library and information science education in the country. Several factors may have created

this association. First, an archives was often viewed as part of a library, either as a special

manuscript collection section or a separate archives section. This relationship to libraries, as

Hidalgo explains, originated in “the shared historical roots of libraries and archives” This is

particularly true in an academic setting, where most of the established archives can be

found. Second, this association with libraries and other cultural institutions such as

museums is also reflected in the clustering together of archivist, librarian and gallery and

museum curator positions as allied professions in one occupational code in the latest
Philippine Standard Occupational Classification. Thus, formal training in library and

information science can suffice for the requirements of an archivist position in the

government as relevant training, in the absence of a formal university degree in archives.

Notwithstanding other informal training in records management and preservation

given earlier, the first formal university course in archives was offered in 1954, when the first

archives elective subjects were included in the undergraduate program of the Department

of Library Science at the University of the Philippines. These elective courses included

General Paleography I (LIS 191) and Archives Administration (LIS 195). In 1955, these first two

courses were converted into graduate level courses. This move to graduate level courses was

in response to the thrust of UP to respond “to the urgent need for more advanced studies”

and the “demand for more adequate instruction on the graduate level.” Aside from the

university courses offered at the School of Library and Information Studies and other library

schools as required by the Philippine Commission on Higher Education (CHED), several

professional organizations have continuously been offering informal training, seminars and

workshops to practitioners in the field. Among these organizations are the National

Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), National Archives of the Philippines (NAP), the

Philippine Librarians Association (PLA), and other professional organizations mentioned

earlier, such as the Society of Filipino Archivists (SFA), the Philippine Records Management

Association (PRMA), the Society of Film Archivists (SOFIA), the Society of Ecclesiastical

Archivists of the Philippines (SEAP), UP Library and Information Science Alumni Association

(UPLSAA), and other organizations. These short-term training programs were geared

towards introductory or basic courses and continuing or supplementary education on

archives administration. The association of the archival profession with the field of library

science became particularly advantageous when the library profession became regulated by

virtue of the Philippine Librarianship Act of 1990 (Republic Act 6966). This legislation required

that before a professional can assume a position as a librarian, he/she has to have a degree

in library science and pass the Librarian Licensure Examination. Through this legislation,

librarianship gained the recognition accorded to other regulated professions.

 This relationship was further strengthened in 2004 by virtue of Republic Act 9246 or

the Philippine Librarianship Act of 2003. The latter places archival education within the realm

of library education when it specifically stipulates in Item 5 of Section 5 that “Librarianship

shall deal with the performance of the librarian’s functions, which shall include, but not be

limited to the following...(5) Teaching, lecturing and reviewing of library, archives and

information science subjects, including subjects given in the licensure examination.” The

inclusion of archives subjects in library science programs promoted archival education as

more and more library schools in the Philippines started to offer archival courses in their

curricula. Moreover, in a memorandum order issued by the Commission on Higher

Education in the Philippines regarding the policies, standards and guidelines for all LIS

programs (undergraduate and graduate), among the required competencies that needed to

be developed among graduates of these programs were cultural knowledge and

preservation skills, which are competencies especially required of archivists.

In summary, the history of the archival profession in the Philippines initially evolved

from the practice of recordkeeping that responded to limited administrative and legal

requirements of the colonial governments. As the archives transitioned into a cultural entity

and became a repository of historical records, these records were maintained and organized

based on the principles used in the practice of librarianship. This also paved the way to its

close association with the librarianship profession and eventually, librarianship education.

However, as the nature of the information and the value and uses of the archives became

more pronounced, the need to approach and to manage the archival records appropriately

also became inevitable. This also warranted recognition and education of a distinct

profession to carry it out. Although the archival profession may be educated alongside

librarians, it is now acknowledged that the required education should not, however, be

simply as librarians are educated or as an adjunct to a mainly library degree but a separate

formal degree that would address the skill and knowledge requirements of the archival

profession. This move to recognize the growing importance and complexity of archival work
through improved university-level education in Archival Studies has continued into the early

twenty-first century.

THE ARCHIVAL PROFESSION: MEETING CRITICAL INSTITUTIONAL AND SOCIAL NEEDS

BY: BRUCE DEARSTYNE, originally published in “ACA News,” July 2000

Professional archivists, through a combination of education and experience, are

qualified to identify, manage, preserve, and make available records with enduring value for

documentation, research, and other purposes.

They are employed in businesses, governments, universities, historical societies,

libraries, museums, and other institutions that create and wish to maintain important

records of their own, or that collect and maintain records for research use. The archival field

originated many years ago. As early as 1936, the Society of American Archivists was formed

to advance the exchange of information among archivists, and in recent years the Academy

of Certified Archivists has developed as a credentialing agency for the profession.

Archival enterprise is clearly a well-established profession. A profession is

characterized by such things as high educational requirements, a solid body of theoretical

and practical knowledge, service orientation and dedication, relative autonomy and

independence in work, independent judgment, strategies for meeting complex issues, and a

code of ethics. Professional archivists exhibit all of these traits and have commensurate

responsibilities for making critical judgments and carrying out work of fundamental

importance for ensuring the systematic identification, sound administration, and

accessibility of important records. Archivists carry out some or all of the following functions:

 Act as agents of the present and the past for the future. Archivists have major

responsibilities for determining what records are identified, saved, and protected.

Their work ensures the availability of institutional records needed for documentation,

legal, and other purposes, as well as supports the transmission of cultural

information and historical and other research.

 Partner in the information field. Archivists are information professionals, and they

work closely with allied professionals such as librarians, records managers,

knowledge managers, information resource specialists, and information technology

specialists.

 Organize and manage comprehensive programs. Archivists organize and administer

programs, and their leadership and management includes such things as setting

priorities, determining goals, managing budgets, allocating resources, supervising

personnel, and issuing reports.

 Determine which records have continuing value. The heart of archival work is the

systematic identification of records with enduring value. Archivists exercise

independent critical judgment in carrying out this complex work through studying the

functions of records-producing institutions, developing documentation plans,

analyzing and evaluating series of records to ascertain their value, anticipating

research and other use, and factoring in available resources.

 Assert control and order over bodies of records. Archivists value orderliness. They

concentrate on maintaining original order and keeping records according to their

originating source when possible. When original order is lost, they arrange records in

an order that reflects their original creation, specifically the functions and activities of

the individual or organization or office that created the records, and is helpful to

potential users.

 Preserve and protect records. Archival work has important custodial and curatorial

responsibilities to ensure the survival and usability of records, many of which are on

fragile media, including electronic records, often the most vulnerable of all.

 Foster access and use of records. Archivists encourage people to use archival records

through production of finding aids and services to researchers who visit the archival

repository or access its services and holdings via phone, letter, fax, e-mail, or the

World Wide Web.

  Broaden awareness of record information. Archivists work to increase awareness and

research use of archival records, for instance, through the mounting of exhibits and

the preparation of document packets for use in schools.

A DYNAMIC PROFESSION

The archival profession is constantly changing, growing, and improving. Archival

professionals understand that they need to keep growing and learning themselves so that

their programs can keep up with changes in the information field and evolving expectations

from their parent institutions, users, and other constituents. Some examples of recent or

ongoing developments which are changing the way archival work is carried out are:

 Sustained attention to the creation, identification and management of electronic

archival records–those produced on and through computers–to meet their special

preservation needs and ensure their continuing availability and accessibility.

 Development of plans to promote better documentation of minority groups.

 Partnering with records managers and other closely allied groups on initiatives and

programs designed to improve management of information resources.

 Cooperating with other professional information groups on issues relating to the

national information infrastructure, the Internet, and the World Wide Web.

 Initiation of reference services over the Web, development of home pages and web

sites, and making finding aids and digital copies of records available over the Web.

 Developing guidelines for archival education, including continuing educational

opportunities for professionals in the field.

THE NEED FOR PROFESSIONAL ACHIVISTS

Why hire a professional archivist? Archival work is too important, complex, and

demanding to be handled satisfactorily by people who lack professional training and

experience. In that sense, it is comparable to familiar professions such as teaching, medicine,

and the law. Like these professionals, archivists possess highly developed skills based on

education, experience, and a rich body of theory and practice. They are adept at asset
management, communication, resource allocation, marketing. They are versatile, applying

their professional skills and insights in changing and challenging settings. Hiring a

professional archivist is a sound investment for the parent institution. It is a cost-effective

way of managing an irreplaceable information resource in historical records for either or

both internal and external clients. Professional archivists are fundamental to business,

government, and education, indeed, to all segments of society, because of:

 The importance of documentation. They are experts in documentation of institutions,

cultural preservation, and preservation of the historical record, broadly defined.

 The challenge of selecting for enduring value. They understand how to select the truly

valuable information from among the huge quantities of records that are continually

created.

 The need for quick, easy access. They can provide access, with all the implications of

that term: describing archival records so that people can recognize and get to them;

providing access tools, including electronic, Web-based ones; and advising and

counseling people on which records best fit their information needs.

 The complexity of modern records. They understand the complex interrelationship

between traditional tangible (mostly paper) records and electronic records, can apply

preservation strategies to both, and understand how to preserve both types of

records to ensure their optimal use.

 Perspectives on information management. In an environment where business,

government, and education all value information as a basis for operation, they

supplement and partner with other key information professionals, for instance, in

ensuring that planning for electronic information systems includes provision for

maintaining information of continuing value.

CERITIFIED ARCHIVIST: THE MARK OF DISTINCTION

The archival field is dynamic and marked by variety and diversity; people reach the

status of professional archivist through many routes. In recent years, there has been a

growing expectation for at least a Masters’ Degree in archival science, library or information
science, history, or a closely related field. The Society of American Archivists, the oldest and

largest professional archival association in the United States, shapes archival

professionalism through its publications, conferences, workshops, and canons of best

practice. For the past decade, however, the mark of distinction among archival professionals

has been the designation of Certified Archivist (CA), provided by the Academy of Certified

Archivists (ACA), a not-for-profit, voluntary, independent accrediting agency. ACA originated

in 1989 and traces its origins to the growing modern need for sophisticated methods to

manage a burgeoning information infrastructure and to supply current information needs

that can be met satisfactorily only by use of the documentary heritage.

The ACA certifies people in the field who have at least a master’s degree and a year

of appropriate archival experience. The certification process requires candidates to take a

written examination with questions in seven “domains” or areas of archival practice:

1. Selection of documents

2. Arrangement and description of documents

3. Reference service and access to documents

4. Preservation and protection of documents

5. Outreach, advocacy, and promotion of documentary collections and archival

repositories

6. Managing archival programs

7. Professional, legal, and ethical responsibilities.

Certified Archivists renew their certification periodically, a process that requires

submission and review of evidence of their program responsibilities, professional work,

publications, and other indicators that they are maintaining current knowledge of issues,

needs, and professional developments in the field.

 REFERENCES:
 Anderson, Bethany (2017). Introduction to
archives. Retrieved from:
https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle
/2142/95901/Intro%20to%20Archives.pdf?seque
nce=4&isAllowed=y
 Archival institutions (2005). Accessed from
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